Web Indicators for Research Evaluation

Everything you need to easily get a handle on economic indicators In today's volatile, often troubling economic landscape, there are myriad statistics and reports that paint an economic picture that can sometimes resemble a work by Jackson Pollock. These complex and often-conflicting reports could vex even the savviest investor. Economic Indicators For Dummies explains how to interpret and use key global economic indicators to make solid investments, aid in business planning, and help develop informed decisions. In plain English, it breaks down the complex language and statistics to help you make sense of this critical information. You'll discover how to interpret economic data within the context of other sometimes-conflicting reports and statistics, and use the information to make profitable decisions. You'll understand the meaning of such data as employment indices and housing and construction stats and how they affect stocks, bonds, commodities and international markets . . . and how you can use these statistics to make investment decisions as well as plan strategic goals for business growth. Economic Indicators For Dummies breaks down dozens of statistics and patterns to give you a better understanding of how various sources of data and information can be used. Breaks down jargon and statistical concepts Covers how to use publicly available economic indicators to better position your portfolio, improve returns, and make sensible, long-range business plans Discusses the reliability and timeliness of the collected data, while helping investors prioritize the flow of economic information to avoid information overload Whether you're an investor, economics student, or business professional involved in making key strategic decisions for your company, Economic Indicators For Dummies has you covered.

A complete guide to using KPIs to drive organisational performance Is your business on track to achieve success? Key Performance Indicators For Dummies covers the essential KPIs that are useful to all kinds of businesses, and includes more than 100 different ways leaders can monitor and drive performance in their organisations. This book helps managers understand the crucial KPIs that should be implemented for all different aspects of the organisation, including financial performance, operational and internal processes, sales and marketing, customer satisfaction and more. Good KPIs should be unique to every business, as every business has different objectives. To meet this need, the book provides tools and templates that leaders can use to develop unique KPIs that best suit their particular organisation or industry. Learn to design KPIs that are unique to your business and fit closely to your strategic objectives Determine which KPI questions you should be asking to achieve the right insights for your business Learn the specific KPIs that are appropriate for different business circumstances Turn KPIs into deep insights by mastering related reporting and communications practices KPIs are a crucial part of every manager's toolkit, and are essential for helping to monitor the execution of business strategies and measure results. Key Performance Indicators For Dummies moves beyond a basic discussion of what KPIs are, and why they are needed to provide a complete guide for learning to design and use specific KPIs to drive organisational performance.

Advisory committees are used often in evaluation studies, yet this practice is little discussed or reported. This issue is the first full-length text devoted to the purpose, practice, and scholarship about this type of formal, structured advice. It includes case studies and analyses of these to answer such basic topics as: What is an evaluation advisory group (EAG)? Why (not) use an EAG? How to organize an EAG, and how to evaluate it? The reader will learn how to view the EAG as a structure of expertise, its use for political legitimacy, and as a response to a variety of constituencies. Guidelines on how to recruit, select, orient, train, monitor, assess, and evaluate EAG members are also included. This is the 136th volume of the Jossey-Bass quarterly report series New Directions for Evaluation, an official publication of the American Evaluation Association.

This issue focuses on connections between performance management and evaluation, a contentious topic at the moment. It does so by placing evaluation and monitoring under the overarching concept of performance management, and then by investigating five complementarities between performance monitoring and measurement on the one hand, and evaluation on the other. These complementarities are: Sequential Informational Organizational Methodical Hierarchical. Several case studies discuss the uses and complementarities of evaluation and performance management in contexts including national and local governments and the work of government, philanthropic foundations, and a direct-service nonprofit agency. These cases illustrate the advantages and pitfalls in utilizing evaluative approaches within the context of performance management. This is the 137th volume of the Jossey-Bass quarterly report series New Directions for Evaluation, an official publication of the American Evaluation Association.

Hear from evaluation practitioners throughout Latin America. In this region program evaluation is an emergent practice, one that is shaped by distinctive geopolitical and social contexts and has its own intellectual biography. Through a selection of writings and cases this issue provides a window on program evaluation in this region. The articles indicate a range of experiences and concerns that respond to the countries’ unique histories and cultures. Articles by evaluators from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, and Peru illustrate new directions and are grouped around the following themes: Strategic use of evaluation in public policies and active citizenship Innovative project evaluation examples Evaluation capacity building and institutionalization. The widespread development of participatory or actor-oriented approaches, based on qualitative methodologies that have a particularly Latin American stamp, are emphasized in this issue. This is the 134th volume of the Jossey-Bass quarterly report series New Directions for Evaluation, an official publication of the American Evaluation Association.

Nowadays, a considerable amount of evaluation work is implemented internally—both nationally and across the world. As such, it is exceedingly important for evaluators and organizations to be aware of the issues in designing and implementing internal evaluation to realize its potential for enhancing organizational growth, competitive advantage, and social impact. This issue includes perspectives on internal evaluation from experienced evaluation practitioners from different fields and organizations who share theoretical and practical examples and case studies in promoting and conducting internal evaluation. The chapters: Highlight societal and organizational changes that have shaped the current trends in internal evaluation Discuss foundational issues in internal evaluation Provide rich illustrations of internal evaluation practice in different settings with diverse foci (customer-driven vision and a results-based orientation for evaluation, accountability and development, and building evaluation capacity). This is the 132nd volume of the Jossey-Bass quarterly report series New Directions for Evaluation, an official publication of the American Evaluation Association.

Gain a greater understanding of organizational capacity to do and use evaluation and implications for evaluation capacity building (ECB). This volume is unique in that it represents a multiple case study of eight organizations that were committed to ECB. It: Situates the study in terms of ECB theory and research Delineates a conceptual framework Presents case profile reports and the results of a cross-case analysis. Discusses findings in terms of implications for research, theory, and practice. This is the 141st issue in the New Directions for Evaluation series from Jossey-Bass. It is an official publication of the American Evaluation Association.

Research Methods for Construction will help you instil rigour into your problem-solving, and into your reports and publications. It will be of value to construction, surveying, architecture and civil engineering students undertaking research, whether for bachelors and masters degree dissertations, or for masters and doctoral research degree theses. Now in its Fourth Edition, this remains one of the few books to provide guidance on research formulation, methodologies, and methods specifically for construction students. Three main sections – Producing a Proposal, Executing the Research and Reporting the Results discuss the key issues in research and examine the primary approaches, both qualitative and quantitative. The methods adopted for scientific and engineering experiments, model building and simulations are discussed, as well as those employed for research into management, social and economic issues. The authors examine the requirements for data and analysis, including the important statistical considerations and a range of qualitative techniques that enable construction researchers to appreciate what needs to be evaluated in devising how research may be carried out effectively and efficiently. This new edition has been updated to reflect current debates and concerns, including ethical issues, legislation and codes of practice concerning the collection, processing, storage, use and disposal of data. Pressures of time and funding to carry out the empirical work all too often lead to a lack of attention to how the study should be done and why. The authors address the importance of explaining the philosophical approach adopted (ontology, epistemology) and the consequent methodology. They advocate close scrutiny of the methods available for appropriateness, both academically and practically. The fundamental theme of the book remains to facilitate a researcher’s informed and justified selection of a philosophical paradigm and of appropriate methods to execute the research.

Semantic Web technology is already changing how we interact with data on the Web. By connecting random information on the Internet in new ways, Web 3.0, as it is sometimes called, represents an exciting online evolution. Whether you’re a consumer doing research online, a business owner who wants to offer your customers the most useful Web site, or an IT manager eager to understand Semantic Web solutions, Semantic Web For Dummies is the place to start! It will help you: Know how the typical Internet user will recognize the effects of the Semantic Web Explore all the benefits the data Web offers to businesses and decide whether it’s right for your business Make sense of the technology and identify applications for it See how the Semantic Web is about data while the “old” Internet was about documents Tour the architectures, strategies, and standards involved in Semantic Web technology Learn a bit about the languages that make it all work: Resource Description Framework (RDF) and Web Ontology Language (OWL) Discover the variety of information-based jobs that could become available in a data-driven economy You’ll also find a quick primer on tech specifications, some key priorities for CIOs, and tools to help you sort the hype from the reality. There are case studies of early Semantic Web successes and a list of common myths you may encounter. Whether you’re incorporating the Semantic Web in the workplace or using it at home, Semantic Web For Dummies will help you define, develop, implement, and use Web 3.0.

A smart trader needs to know what other traders are thinking and doing. Professional traders and investors use a wide range of indicators—some well-known, some not so well-known—to gauge the state of the market. Market Indicators introduces the many key indicators used by professional traders and investors every day. Having stood the test of time, these indicators will alert the trader to market situations that offer the best chance to trade profitably. Richard Sipley is a portfolio manager for Boston Private Bank and Trust Company, responsible for trading millions of dollars of assets. Sipley uses these indicators every day in his trading and investing, and he draws on that experience to explain what they are, how they work, and how to use them.